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Chukotka Region

A federal subject of Russia (an autonomous okrug), it is the farthest north east region of Russia.  It has a total area of 737,700 square kms.

Maximum Altitude

The highest region is the Anyvisk-Chukot upland where the highest point is 1887 meters.

Physical Features

The region is situated in high latitudes – approximately half of the territory lies above the Arctic Circle.  It has a low, mountainous relief and is surrounded by two oceans.

The central part of the region is occupied by an extremely waterlogged Anadyr lowland.  North West of this region is the Anadyr Plateau, from where the majority of rivers originate.  The largest river is the Anadyr.  The Southern part of the region encompasses the Northern part of the Koryak upland area, while the Southwest region includes the Yukagir Plateau.

A feature of the region is its unique diversity of recent and relic ice.

Climate

Residents joke that for one month of a year the weather in the region is bad, for two months it is very bad, and for the remaining nine months it is just awful.

Chukot climate is influenced by the geographical situation – in the far Northeast of Eurasia, an area affected by two seas with a sophisticated atmospheric movement.  During the winter periods the region is affected by cyclones from the European-Asian Front, Arctic Anti-cyclones and Southern cyclones.  Weather can change abruptly from frosty weather with moderate and strong northern winds to wet, comparatively warm weather with heave snowfalls or snowstorms from the south.

In summer time the weather patterns consist of anti-cyclones above the Pacific Ocean, cyclones from the European-Asian front and cold Arctic air over the Arctic Ocean.  As a result the region can experience abrupt changes in weather.

Average temperatures vary greatly

Summer (July/August)    4°C - 14°C
Winter (January/February)    18°C - -42°

Population

The severe Chukot climate significantly reflects in the way of life of people living here.

The population of the region is characterized by quite a remarkable ethnic variety.  There are more than 60 different nationalities living here, including 16 indigenous peoples – Chukchi, Eskimos, Evens, Koryaks, Churvans, Yakagirs, Evenks, Nenets, Lamuts and others.

According to the 2002 census the population of this region is 55,251.  The density of population is 7.5 people per 1 sq km.  Over 60% of the population live in towns.  By far the largest is that of Anadyr – the capital where nearly 12,000 people live.  The second largest town is Bilibino with over 6,000 people.  Pevek, the northern most town in Russia, has a population of over 5,000.  Other important towns with significant populations include Vgol’nye Kopi, Providenya, Egvekinot, Beringovsky, Lavrentiya and Lorino.

Economy

Chukotka’s climate and geography means that it is one of the world’s most inhospitable environments for human habitation.  Its economy is necessarily concentrated on natural resource extraction and harvesting.  The production of finished goods and foodstuffs is limited to a level necessary to satisfy local needs and there is limited export potential for any kind of manufacturing.  Chukotka’s economic potential lies in the export of coal, gold, silver, platinum, tin and tungsten concentrates.  Other possibilities include scrap metal, fish, caviar, leather products (from reindeer), sea mammal fat, furs and souvenirs.

Natural History

The climate determines and dictates the natural history.  At first glance the vegetation would appear to be very poor – but in fact there are more than 900 kinds of plants and 400 kinds of moss and lichen in the Chukot region.

The region includes several distinctive zones including the Arctic desert zone; the tundra and forest tundra zone, and the larch taiga zone.

Altogether there are about 220 bird species, many of which are migratory species coming to the region during the breeding season.  Animals include the brown bear and the polar bear, reindeer, the sable, the lynx, wolf, fox and mink and others.  The marine environment is particularly rich with over 400 species of fish recorded.  Sea mammals include the walrus, seals (6 species) and whales including beluga, humpback, fin, grey and blue whale.

The region has several nature reserves including Wrangel Island (see separate article), Beringia, Lebediny and others.

Further Reading:

• Barratt Glynn - Russia in Pacific Waters  1715 – 1825, University of British Columbia Press. Vancouver and London 1981
• Frost OW (Edt) Georg Wilhelm Stellar - Journal of a Voyage with Bering 1741 – 1742, Translated Margritt A Engel and OW Frost. Stanford University Press. Stanford California 1988.
• Frost OW (Edt) Bering and Chirikov - The American Voyages and their impact,  Alaska Historical Society, Anchorage, Alaska 1992.
• Frost OW - Bering: The Russian Discovery of America
• Kushnarev Evgenii G - Berings search for the Strait, The First Kamchatka Expedition 1725-1730, Edt/Translated by E A P Crownhart-Vaughen
• Ford Corey - Where the sea breaks its back: The epic story of early naturalist Georg Stellar and the Russian Exploration of Alaska,  Alaska Northwest Books, Anchorage Seattle 1992.
• Reid A - The Shamans Coat, A Native History of Siberia.
• Sleskin Y - Arctic Mirrors: Russia and the Small Peoples of the North.
• Sweetland Smith Barara, Barnett Redmond J (Edts) - Russian America: The Forgotten Frontier, Washington State Historical Society, Tacoma, Washington 1990.
• Knystautas Algirdas - The Natural History of the USSR, McCraw-Hill Book Company 1987.
• Blix Arnoldus S - Arctic Animals and their adaptations to life on the edge Tapir Academic Press, Trondheim 2005.
• Lincoln W B - The Conquest of a Continent, Siberia and the Russians.
• National Audubon Society Guide to the marine Mammals of the World, Chanticler Press Ltd 2002.
• Boner Nigel - Seals and Sealions of the World, Octopus Publishing group 2004.